Manipulation of biological functions by means of dietary fats. New possibilities of treatment in internal medicine? A hypothesis

Dietary fatty acids can alter different biological functions in different ways. Polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce the cholesterol content of the blood and perhaps also the membrane flexibility, which in the case of red cells may express itself in the high shear stress-related viscosity of the blood. Linoleic acid (18:2ω-6), linolenic acid (18:3ω-3), arachidonic acid (20:4 ω-6) and eicosapentaneoic acid (20:5 ω-3) (=timnodonic acid) can alter biological functions by altering the mother substance of the membrane of cells from which the different prostaglandins are derived. This article discusses the influence of dietary alterations with the abovementioned fatty acids on platelet aggregability as measured with a newly developed method for the study of platelet aggregation, with special reference to measurement of the influence of labile substances like prostaglandins on platelet aggregation. Although the effect of these fatty acids in the diet on 'classic' platelet aggregation in the literature is controversial, the effect of alteration of the abovementioned fatty acids on this modified determination was clear, as was shown by observations over a period of 2 1/2 years on a single person. It seems that the cholesterol-lowering effect of certain dietary fats has to be distinguished from the ability of certain fats to alter platelet aggregation.